Brooklyn Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov reportedly tried to sell the franchise earlier this year.
When he didn’t get the $2 billion offer he desired, Prokhorov seemingly took the team off the market.
Now, he might go the other direction – buying out Bruce Ratner, who owns a minority of the Nets and a majority of Barclays Center.
Ric Bucher of Bleacher Report:
I’m hearing that Prokhorov, there’s been a lot of talk about him selling the franchise. And now the latest is that in the next two weeks, we could hear an announcement that he’s actually buying 100 percent of the franchise, buying the Barclays Center, going all in. Now, sources who told me all this also said there is still the possibility that he gets completely out if he has that opportunity. But the indications are much more strong that he would go the other way and buy all the way in.
This isn’t the first time Ratner has considered selling with Prokhorov mentioned as a potential buyer. That doesn’t mean this is another false alarm, but I wouldn’t consider it imminent.
Especially because Prokhorov owning a major of the team and a minority of the arena and Ratner owning the opposite creates the possibility for revenue-hiding hijinks.